


A Jump of Three Lifetimes

by leftennant



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Romance, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-21
Updated: 2014-04-22
Packaged: 2018-01-20 08:05:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1502993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leftennant/pseuds/leftennant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose finally finds the Doctor during a jump, but the timing is way off.  Can what seems like a mistake actually be the best possible solution to all their problems?  (some spoilers and a happy ending for Journey's End)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at writing Nine or Eleven. Heaven help us all.  
> The BBC owns everything and I just borrow it for fun.

There was a roaring in her ears, and a tang of sulfur still on her tongue as Rose Tyler stumbled out of the void and onto a sidewalk in downtown London. She didn’t notice any of it though. Not the sound or even the stumble because directly in front of her was the blue box she’d been searching for all these months. 

She’d made it back, found him, finally! Rose darted towards the TARDIS, arms swinging, legs pumping. She was already reaching for the key around her neck when a man in a tweed jacket popped out of the shadows along the left-hand side and unsuspectingly got between her and the doors. 

She had no time to stop, and skidded straight into him, slamming his body into the wood with a loud _oomph_. He recovered first, grasping her by the forearms and holding her out, whatever he was about to say dying on his tongue as he looked at her.

The man swallowed hard several times before speaking, “Rose?” 

She blinked in shock. “Doctor?”

He nodded, still looking as if he was having a hard time finding the right words. 

“You’ve regenerated?” Rose gasped out, trying to reconcile the floppy hair, different build, and new face with the man she loved. It was him. She was sure of it despite the new face and body. 

“I… Yes, I suppose I have,” he mused, narrowing his eyes and looking thoughtfully at her. “but that’s not important. This…there’s something about this. You being here now… What is it? Think. Think!” He said, walking in a tight circle. She began to speak and he waved his hand negligently, stopping her from interrupting. “You’re here… You are _here_ so… What that means is… Yes, of course! This is when it happens! Well, Tyler, we’ve got a bit of planning to do then.” he mused, rubbing his hands together excitedly.

Rose shook her head. _Tyler_???? Since when did he start addressing her by her last name only? At least his ridiculous penchant for babbling was still familiar, if nothing else. But she didn’t have time to deal with whatever nonsense he was spouting off about. She had more important things to discuss, and his whatever-it-was could be dealt with later. “Doctor, the stars…I have to tell you…”

“I know,” he replied with a sad smile. “Oh Rose, we’ve done this bit already. A long, long time ago.”

Her shoulders slumped dejectedly, “I’m in the wrong part of your timeline.”

“Oh,” he said, tipping her chin up with a finger, “I wouldn’t say that. You’re in the perfect time in my timeline, just not the one you were thinking of. Wibbly Wobbly, remember?”

“What do you mean? And why did you say that thing before…about this being when it happens? When _what_ happens?” She shook herself free from his grip and his hands dropped to his sides, hanging loosely as if they didn’t know what to do with themselves now.

“Something happened in my past, and I’ve always puzzled over how, but now I know. It’s me!” He smiled in delight. “I get to take you… Hm. Would you believe me if I say that I get to take you to me? Younger me. Remember him, Rose? Freckles, hair like this?” And he employed his hands by using them to mimic messy, spiky hair on the top of his head. Hair that Rose knew all too well.

“’Course I remember. How could I ever forget, you daft alien?” She cocked her head. “Did you just say you take me to him? Although I suppose he’s you. So…you’re taking me to you, then? Bloody pronouns,” she muttered under her breath.

“I did, and I do. In just a few minutes, in fact. Feeling up to a little trip?” He snapped his fingers and the TARDIS door swung open. 

Rose’s jaw dropped in shock. “Did you just _snap_ the TARDIS door open?”

“I did indeed. Picked up that little trick while I was traveling with… Nevermind. You’re not there yet. Spoilers, hey? Well?” He threw his arms open to indicate that she step inside. When she didn’t, he simply grabbed her hand and hauled her in after him. “Come along, Tyler, we have paradoxes to create.”

Rose was shaking her head at him calling her Tyler again when the TARDIS interior came into view. She stopped dead and tugged her hand free of his so she could walk around the console, trailing her fingers along the coral. “Hello girl. Aren’t you _gorgeous_.”

The lights dimmed twice, and the hum inside increased exponentially as the ship greeted her.

“She missed you. Misses you still.” He patted the console, giraffe-like frame propelling around as he pulled levers like afterthoughts. “Point of fact, there is quite a lot of missing going on when it comes to you. Probably always will be,” he said, more than half to himself.

“Am I…not with you, then?” Rose asked haltingly. He couldn’t possibly be missing her if she were there.

The Doctor smiled wistfully at her. “I’m afraid that falls under spoilers again.”

Rose grimaced. “M’already getting sick of that word.”

He chuckled. “Don’t blame you there. You can’t imagine how many time _I’ve_ heard it lately. You know how it works though. I’m not allowed to tell you things that might endanger your future.”

Rose nodded and shifted her focus. “You said you’re taking me to him, yeah? Why? Don’t you want me here? If you’re missing me so much and all,” she said archly.

“You have no idea how much I want you here, but you see, I’ve already lived the reason why I need to deliver you there. Therefore, this time, I don’t get to keep you. And by not keeping you, I get to have you.” He tapped her nose. “Told you it was wibbly wobbly.”

“I can see your gob hasn’t gotten any smaller,” she teased.

“It draws attention away from my chin,” he said, slapping the sides of his rather prominent chin with both hands comically. Rose laughed. “Let’s get this show on the road, shall we?” And he spun around to the console, programming in coordinates and flipping switches like mad. “Hang on tight, Tyler. We’re about to cross my timestream, and that’s always a dicey proposition,” he ordered, pulling her close and flipping several switches in quick succession.

There was that odd use of her last name again. This time, Rose wasn’t about to let it go. “I have a first name, you know. Since when do you call me Tyler?” 

“Since now, and I thought I told you to hang on,” he admonished as they both swayed alarmingly to the left during a particularly bouncy maneuver by the TARDIS.

Rose quickly wrapped her arms around his waist. “How’s that?”

For a moment, it was very clear that he’d lost any semblance of composure. “Oh that’s….” he began in a squeaky voice. Pulling a face, he cleared his throat. “…perfectly adequate. Now…GERONIMO!” He smacked a button in the middle of the panel and the TARDIS went lurching even more violently through the vortex while the Doctor fought to keep them both upright.

It landed with a crashing thud, and they ended up on the floor, the Doctor landing flat on his back like a scarecrow with Rose half-sprawled on top of him.

“Well, that turned out better than I’d hoped,” he said, voice muffled by her hair on his face.

Rose burst out laughing. “Yeah, it was great. Just like old times” she replied while getting back on her feet. The she reached down and offered him a hand.

Ignoring it in his excitement, he jumped up and rushed to the computer screen to check the coordinates, his lips moving while he read. “Look at that!” He flicked a finger against the screen. “Spot on! I should be just around the block. Moping, if I recall correctly.” He shook his head. “Always seemed to be moping in that body .”

“Oi,” Rose gave him a little push, “watch it. I happen to love that body.”

The floppy-haired Doctor’s eyes softened. “I know you do.” His mood abruptly shifted back to business. “Which is why we need to get you out of this TARDIS and into that one. I need you, Tyler.”

“Aren’t you alright?” she asked, worry creasing her forehead.

He shook his head. “No. I’m not, but that’s where you come in, which is what we need to talk about right now. Ok?”

Rose nodded even though she had no idea what he getting at. “Of course. Let’s have it, then.”

He paused a moment, choosing his words carefully. “I did something. Something…terrible. I tried to change a fixed timeline, and I did, but at a terrible cost. To change the timeline back, someone died, a woman. Her name was Adelaide Brooke,” he continued in a quiet, pained voice. “She committed suicide to sort out my mess.” 

Rose gaped at him. “You…what??? Why?”

He rubbed a hand over the top of his head with a grimace before sort of flapping it at her. “I wasn’t in my right mind. I…I lost someone. Someone precious.”

“Was it me?” she asked, biting her lip.

He pulled her in for a massive hug, pressing his nose to the top of her head. “I can’t answer that. I want to, but I can’t.”

“At least you didn’t say spoilers this time,” she mumbled against his lapel. The Doctor laughed, chest rumbling solidly under her cheek. “Is there more you need to tell me?”

He looked up at the ceiling of the TARDIS, thinking. “That me has already done the stars going out with you too, but you’re going to need to tell me that’s where you are in your timeline and do it quick. Shut me up if I start talking when you walk in, otherwise I might let something slip you shouldn’t know. Oh, and there’s this thing… Something you need to say, otherwise I’ll just keep you at arm’s length, and there is absolutely nothing more important to me than retaining the memories of what happened that day exactly the way they are. Got it?”

“Got it.” She drew herself up. “Tell me what I need to say.”

He leaned in and whispered something in her ear. 

Rose blinked. “Is that Gallifreyan?”

“It is. Can you repeat it?”

She did, and he corrected her a few times until she could say it perfectly. By the end of their impromptu language lesson, he was breathing harder, and plucking at his bow tie as if it were knotted too tightly around his neck. “Still has the desired effect, I see,” he mused to himself.

“What does it mean?” Rose asked.

“Oh, well it means…um…” He blushed bright crimson, and cleared his throat loudly. “Roughly translated it means something like ‘Shut up and fuck me, Time Lord’. Although, if I was being exact, it would be something more like ‘Please close your mouth and fuck me immediately in this timeline, at this moment, in your current regeneration, while I am in this timeline, moment, and regeneration as well, Time Lord’. Rather a hopeless mouthful, Gallifreyan, but I’ll get the drift, trust me.”

“OH,” she replied, blushing as well. “I um… So… Are we gonna…?”

“Yes. We are. Which is why it’s very important that you remember how to say that. Otherwise I might just dither and fluster, and try to keep things platonic as usual. Like I said, memories.” He placed a fingertip on his temple. “Very important to me.”

“Right,” Rose said, swallowing hard. “I’ll remember.”

“Please do, and make sure you tell me _I_ told you to say it. Oh, and Rose?”

“Yeah?”

“Hand over the dimension jumper.”

“This?” she said, fingering the device around her neck. “Why?”

“Because if you keep it, I’m likely to hide it. Well, younger me would. I’ll want to keep you, and that would be bad because you’ve got two universes to save. I’m going to argue for you to stay anyway, and you are going to have to be strong and say no. Can you do that?”

Rose fidgeted. “I’ll see you again? So I can tell you the stars are going out?”

“You will.”

“Then yes. I’ll…” The words escaped her for a second. How could she possibly refuse him? But if what he said was true, she’d see him again. Rose squared her shoulders, hoping her voice held more resolve than she felt. “I promise. I’ll say no.”

“Good girl. There’s one more thing you need to know. Listen closely, alright?” He leaned down, slid the dimension jumper off her. Then he cupped her face in his hands, his green eyes filled with warmth. “I love you. No matter what happens, no matter what I do or say in your future, know that my reasons are because I love you. I’m an idiot about showing it sometimes, but know this, Tyler, I _love_ you, and I’ve waited longer than you could possibly imagine for the opportunity to say that.” 

The air in the TARDIS went electric. For a moment, Rose thought he was going to kiss her, but then he clapped his hands together, cutting through the emotion in the room like a scythe. “Off you go then. I’ll see you back here later so we can get you where you need to be for the jump back to Pete’s World.”

“You still call it that?” She smiled at him quizzically.

“I do. Always will.” He walked up to her and turned her about to face the exit. “Thought I told you to get on with it, eh? Stop wasting time with me _here_ and go find me _there_.”

Rose looked at him one more time, grabbed his face so she could press a quick kiss to his lips, laughing at the comical expression of surprise on his face. Then she ran to the doors, key bouncing with hope on the chain around her neck.


	2. Chapter 2

As she rounded the corner of the city block, Rose almost stumbled a second time. There it was. The TARDIS she'd called home, sitting squarely on the pavement outside a chippy. She walked up to the door, fitted her key in the lock, and turned it with a click that resounded through her whole body. Placing her palm flat on the wood, she took a deep breath, and pushed. 

Inside, the TARDIS was exactly how she remembered. It even smelled the same. And there on the jumpseat, bowed over in grief with his head in his hands, was her Doctor. He was wearing his familiar dark tan coat, but his suit was blue pinstripes instead of the brown she remembered so well and his feet were clad in maroon trainers that matched the swirls on his tie. 

Rose just stood there silently at the top of the ramp, gazing at him with her heart crashing her chest. God, she’d missed him. Every part of her had ached and longed for him a little more with each passing day spent in the alternate universe. Now she was here, and had no idea how to proceed. She wasn’t even sure how to alert him to her presence. Fortunately, he handled that for her.

With a deep inhalation of breath, he slowly pulled his hands away from his face, sliding them down his cheeks until just his fingertips remained templed over his lips. The he caught sight of Rose, and his mouth dropped open in shock. He stared and gulped loudly, eyes round in disbelief.

“You’re not here,” he finally whispered brokenly. “ You can’t be here. Rose, why are you here? I…we… You’re with…”

Her heart sank. Wherever she was, it was clear they were lost to each other. She wanted so badly to ask him what had happened, but she remembered what the future Doctor had told her and held up a hand to stop him before he said too much. “You can’t tell me. I can’t know where I’m supposed to be, or why. I’m not there yet. I’m… My stars are still going out, and I… I’ve been looking so long.” Her voice began to crack and she rushed through the rest. “He said it was the wrong part of the timeline, but I was meant to be here.” Tears were gathering and threatening to spill down her cheeks. 

The Doctor tried to stand and wavered, clutching at the rail behind him. To Rose it appeared as if he was fighting to maintain his equilibrium. “Who? Who brought you here?” he demanded. “Tell me!” he said sharply when she didn’t answer. 

Rose flinched. “ _You_ did. You brought me. The…the next you, I think. He was um…he was…” 

“Don’t tell me. Better if I don’t know,” he muttered. Then he began striding around in agitation, snapping out rapid-fire questions. “I brought you here? I crossed my own timeline??? Did I say why?” 

“You said that you remembered this happening. That it was supposed to happen, and that you were suffering, and I help to make you better. Actually,” Rose said, a fair amount of her spunk returning, “ _he_ seemed quite chuffed to see me. A great deal more than you do. _You_ haven’t even said hello. That’s very rude, that is.”

He stood there, mouth gaping for a moment, and then said, “You’re right. Unequivocally, absolutely, and as usual, right.” Faster than she could have imagined, he crossed the brief space between them and drank in her face like he’d been starved for it. Then he said in a voice thick with emotion, “Rose Tyler, hello.”

No one ever said her name like he did. The sound of it on his lips after such a long time going without made her feel light-headed, and she swayed slightly where she stood. He put out a hand to catch her, and she tumbled against his chest with a tremulous cry.

“It’s you, oh God, it’s really you,” she said, and the tears that trapped behind her lashes rapidly spilled over to soak the cotton under her cheek. She slid her arms around him and grabbed handfuls of his coat to pull him closer. 

“It’s me,” he agreed, cheeks nearly as wet as hers. “And it’s you, and, now that I think on it, I don’t even care how you got here, as long as you _are_ here. Rassilon, Rose, you’re _here_.”

Rose gave in to the embrace for a moment, just enjoying the feel of him in her arms at last after the lost and lonely time without him on Pete’s World. Time was of the essence though. She knew what was supposed to happen here, even if he didn’t, and they had a limited amount of hours left. Best make the most of it. 

Rose gave him a watery version of her customary flirtatious grin, punctuated with a few happy sniffles. “Now that we’ve clarified that we’re both here, whatcha gonna do about it, Doctor?” 

He started at her sudden change of mood and tugged apprehensively on his ear. “Do? I…well…what do _you_ want to do? If you’re in the midst of a dimension jump…am I right?” Rose nodded and he continued. “So if you’re jumping and… Where’s your jumper?” he asked, peering at the front of her shirt as if it would magically appear any moment.

“On the other TARDIS…” She chewed on her lip. “The next you said that if I wore it, you might try to hide it, and he thought it best if...”

“Ah,” he interrupted, the one small word infused with complete understanding. “Right, so how long do we have?”

Rose checked her watch, “This is a long jump. When the team thought we might have a lock on the TARDIS, we scheduled the jumper for twenty-four hours. Just in case I found you. I’ve been here about half an hour.”

“Twenty-three and a half hours with Rose Tyler,” he reflected, making a clicking sound with his tongue against his teeth. “We could go somewhere. Anywhere you want to go?” Rose shook her head no. “Ok, don’t want to go somewhere…then we could do something here. Bowling?”

“No.”

“How about a movie, we could make popcorn. Oooh, we could watch the Lion King 1 ½, you love that one.”

“Nope, and I’m pretty sure you’re the one who loves that one. I like the original better.”

“Fine, no movie. And you’re wrong about the Lion King. 1 ½ is much funnier, really Rose, I can’t understand your preference for the first one,” he said good-naturedly. “Hungry then?”

“Not even a little bit.”

The Doctor fiddled with a switch on the console. “Are you sure? We could do a picnic in the TARDIS garden”

“Positive.”

“Swimming? I could change the pool desktop to make it look like Aruba. Just imagine, miles of sandy beach, palm trees, you love palm trees.” He waggled his eyebrows enticingly.

“That’s a bit closer to what I was thinking…more nudity anyway,” Rose mumbled.

“What was that?” His head swung back from where he was peering out into the corridor at the pool entrance.

“Nothing. Listen, I have this thing I need to tell you.” She ran over the strange words in her head to make sure she’d get the pronunciation right.

“Is it about my future?” he asked, ready to call a halt if it were something that would affect his timeline.

“Not in the way you think,” Rose said. “It won’t change anything, if that’s what you’re worried about. Well, just the immediate future, as in what we do with the next few hours.”

“Oh, well that’s fine then. Go ahead. Tell me whatever it is. I’m all ears. Weeell, not like I was all ears before. It might be more appropriate to say I’m all hair or pinstripes, although of course, under the pinstripes I’m not pinstripes. That would just be odd, although I shouldn’t say that, because there are several pinstriped species who would probably find my non-pinstriped skin odd.” He paused to take a breath and seemed to realize he was rambling “But I suspect none of this actually matters right now. What erm…what was it you wanted to say?” He smiled brightly at her and waited. 

Rose mouthed the words silently once more and then looked him straight in the eye as she said each one aloud with calculated precision. 

The Doctor went pale under his freckles, pupils rapidly dilating. “What did you just say?”

Rose repeated the little phrase, this time with a bit more inflection and a saucy glance at him up from under her lashes. 

He licked his lips. “Ah, um yes. That’s what I thought you said. Blimey.”

“Would you like me to say it again?” she asked innocently.

“Possibly, but erm… Might I enquire as to where you heard that particular…sentiment?”

She shrugged. “Sure. You told me, not half an hour ago.”

“I see.” He ruffled agitatedly through his hair, causing it to stick up wildly. “Did I also tell you what it meant?” 

“Yep,” she said cheerfully. “In detail. Want me to translate?”

“No,” he squeaked. “I’m fairly familiar with the meaning. Ehm, Rose…are you really asking…me to…to… With you…?” The Doctor trailed off, looking at her helplessly.

“I am,” she said with the certainty of a woman who knows exactly what she wants.

“But, we don’t do that.” He sounded like even though they didn’t, he very much wanted to.

“We _haven’t_ done that,” Rose corrected. “That’s hardly the same thing, now is it? It’s all semantics, but still, fairly important, hm?” She walked her fingers up his tie.

He watched her roving fingers with deep interest. “That is an extremely valid point. I love semantics, have I ever told you how much I love semantics?”

“Not that I can recall.” Rose had the tie unknotted now and gently pulled it free of his collar.

“Semantics,” he said again, looking at the strip of crimson patterned silk that was now dangling from her fingertips. “Love them.”

“D’you know what I love?” she asked. “Beds. Think we could find one?”

“How does mine sound?” he asked, gaze flicking back and forth between her eyes and her lips.

“Is it close?”

He closed his eyes for a moment in concentration and opened them again, “It is now.”

Rose smiled up at him. “Allons-y, Doctor,” she said, and held out her hand.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is definitely NSFW. You have been warned. ;)

He looked at the hand belonging to the pink and yellow girl who owned his hearts. How he had longed to hold it. He found himself reaching for it a hundred times a day, even though he knew it was lost to him forever. And here she was, holding it out, waiting for him to take it. The Doctor didn’t know what he’d done to deserve this reprieve, but whatever it was, he was so very, very glad. 

Without another thought, he clasped his fingers through hers and reveled in the feeling her palm fitting perfectly with his in a way that none of his other companions had. It was as if she’d been made just for him and him for her. A matched set. Despite the years and planets between them, this girl right here had been his fate all along. And he had less than one more day with her. These twenty-three and a half hours would have to satisfy him for all time. In fact, they were going to be the best twenty-three and a half hours in the history of two universes. He would make sure of that.

At his telepathic prompting, the TARDIS had moved his door directly next to the console room. He stopped in front of it and Rose reached out and turned the knob herself, leading him into his own bedroom and over to the bed. She stopped, taking a moment to regard the room she’d never seen in her whole sojourn on the TARDIS.

“Do you want me to tell you what some of these things are?” He asked, gesturing at the collection of alien bric-a-brac scattered about. 

“Later you can give me a full tour, but right now I’d rather see what you’re keeping under that suit,” Rose replied.

“Rose Tyler, I would _love_ to show you what I’m keeping under this suit. Conversely, I’m rather interested in what’s under those jeans. And this shirt,” he said and grasped the hem of her shirt in both hands so he could lift it over her head. “Gorgeous,” he said, tracing the curve of one breast over her bra and letting his fingers drift down her ribcage and over her stomach to release the button and zip on her jeans. 

He pushed the denim off her hips, crouching down to steady her as he pulled off both her trainers and socks so she could step out of the jeans. The TARDIS key remained around her neck on its chain, swinging lightly against her breasts.

“I never take it off,” she said, noticing him looking at it. “Just in case.”

“Oh Rose.” He swallowed around the lump in his throat. “The TARDIS will _always_ open for you. I can promise you that. Key or not. But I can’t tell you what it means to me that you wear it.”

“Have I…” She faltered a moment before pulling herself together. “Am I dead? In your timeline, I mean. Have I died? Because it’s clear I find you again. Both versions of you told me that I make it back. I tell you about the stars going out. And I would never leave you again willingly, Doctor. I know that. I meant it when I said forever.”

He looked at her, his beautiful brave girl, once again declaring her intention of staying forever. He couldn’t answer her question, but he could tell her something much more important. Something he had been desperate to say the last time he saw her on that frozen beach. 

Placing both hands on her shoulders, the Doctor rested his forehead on hers and looked steadily into her face. “Rose Tyler, I love you.”

“Oh!” she said, bringing up both hands to cover her mouth, eyes prickling once more. Hearing it from his future incarnation was fantastic, but this…. Those words coming from his mouth? Nothing could compare. “Could you just say that again?”

“Rose Tyler?” he asked with a cheeky grin.

“No, you git!” She gave him a smack, laughing despite her tears. “The other part.”

“I love you,” he repeated firmly.

“Yeah?”

He gave her a tender smile. “I’m yours, body and soul. Have been for a long time. You could say it was an at-first-sight kind of thing.” 

Rose stared at him open-mouthed. “What? You mean in Henriks?”

“I mean from the first moment you trustingly put your hand in mine and ran, I’ve been yours. And I am so, so sorry that it took me so long to realize it, and that I never told you once I had.”

She fanned her hands next to her face, trying to stop crying. “Lookit me, I’m a right mess.”

“I am looking at you,” he replied appreciatively, “and ‘mess’ isn’t the word I’d use. Sexy, certainly. Beautiful, absolutely. Enchanting beyond all reasonable bounds, definitely. But never a mess.”

She dove at him, and he barely got his arms up in time before her lips were crashing into his. Rassilon, what a kiss! Rose was pulling his hair and squirming against him as if she wanted to meld with him everywhere. It was so much like another kiss. A kiss that he’d wished was his but belonged to another man bearing his face. This one, however, this was all for him. _HIS_. And she was going to be his as well. No more finding reasons to hold himself back from loving her properly.

So many times he’d denied them both what could have been. If there was anything losing her twice now had taught him, it was that you take what fate hands you and thank whatever gods there are for the opportunities at happiness you’re given. He thought of that one time just before Krop Tor when he’d gone to her door so he could tell her how he felt, raised his hand to knock, and then stood there for the better part of ten minutes doing nothing. All his bravado culminated in him stumbling back to his own room like a complete coward. 

There was a timeline shift that night, and the Doctor often wondered if he’d made a colossal error. It was possible that if he had allowed their relationship to progress then and there, he’d never have lost her in the first place. Those thoughts were useless though. What he had was now, and wasting time worrying what might have been was mad when he had far better things to do.

Rose had taken advantage of his distraction to angle him so the backs of his knees were up against the mattress and stealthily gave him a shove so he fell straight back onto it. The Doctor caught her hand and toppled her next to him on the duvet. Giggling with the sheer joy of it all, Rose scrambled up to the head of the bed with him in hot pursuit. 

The Doctor's coat was already discarded on the floor but he was fighting to get out of his jacket and shirt, only one arm free of the pinstripes and already tearing through buttons on the front of the the oxford. Rose caught the wrist of the arm still wearing the jacket and pulled the button free on the cuff, then reached under the other one and freed it as well. The Doctor yanked both shirt and jacket off in one go and then dove on her, sliding his arms under her back to open the clasp on her bra. He managed it with a mercifully small amount of difficulty, and Rose wriggled it down her arms and threw it straight across the room in her hurry to get rid of it. 

He barely had time to take in the fact that she was topless when Rose began shimmying out of her knickers, getting them most of the way down her legs before impatiently kicking them off. The Doctor froze for a second, just looking. Rose was completely bare. _On his bed._ All amazing curvy parts, and skin, and oh good god, this was just… _incredible_. He glanced up and found her eyes fixed on him, excitement, self-consciousness, and lust swirling in their hazel depths in an intoxicating cocktail that was making his head spin. 

“Rose,” he said, gaze skipping and bouncing from one tantalizing inch of her to another.

Her lips curved up into a smile as she watched his face. “Yeah?”

“You. Are. Naked!” he exclaimed in delight. 

“You’re not,” she retorted, reaching down to tug on his waistband. “Any chance you’re planning on remedying that? Or were you just gonna keep these on and fuck me by osmosis?”

“Os…what?” The Doctor looked down at his trousers in confusion. “No, of course not. Time Lords don’t mate by osmosis, Rose. Well, usually, we don’t mate at all and…” Then his jaw clicked shut as his brain caught up with his gob. “Rose Tyler, you were just trying to get my trousers off!” 

“Possibly. You opposed?” she said, with her tongue-caught-between-her-teeth grin. Only the Doctor would gleefully point out how she wanted him undressed when they were already planning on shagging. God, she loved him.

“I’m rather in favor actually. Fervently in favor. I can’t recall ever being in favor of anything more in over nine hundred years,” the Doctor said.

Rose collapsed onto the pillows in a fit of giggles. He flipped himself over her and caged her in with his arms. 

“You know, laughing yourself senseless isn’t really getting things done.”

“So get things done, Doctor,” she challenged.

“Did you just put me in charge?” He nuzzled under her ear and she arched her neck to give him more access.

“Think I did.”

“You ought to watch that, I’m libel to get power hungry.” A trail of nipping kisses wound its way across her chest as his lips pressed to her skin over and over. 

“Not worried.” Rose rolled her hips when he took a nipple in his mouth. “I trust you. Always have. ‘Sides, I know how to handle your nonsense.”

He smirked against her breast, and raised his head to look at her. “Oh, you’re going to be _handling_ it alright, Rose. But first, there’s this thing I’ve been wanting to do to you since the second I laid eyes on you after turning into in this very orally fixated regeneration. And I’m tired of waiting.” The trail of kisses began again, tracing down to her hip, over her stomach and stopping briefly at her navel, before he repositioned himself between her legs with her open to his gaze. 

The Doctor lifted a finger and ran it lightly down her slit, sliding it between her folds and just inside. Then he looked up at her in something like amazement. “You’re so wet. It’s gorgeous.”

Rose propped herself up on her elbows. “You always have that effect on me,” she said boldly. “It sometimes got a bit inconvenient. Like when we were running for our lives and all I could think of was dragging you into the nearest coat closet and having my way with you.”

“Really? You were thinking that too? I thought it was just me. What about that time on Jallocress Five when we were being chased by the Royal Guard and we passed…”

“…that broom closet with the very conveniently spaced shelves? Yep. Then too,” she finished for him.

“Promise me, Rose Tyler, the next time you want to have your way with me, you’ll do it. Just yank me into whatever cabinet or cupboard is on hand and shag me rotten.”

“I swear it. Now, about that oral fixation, was that all talk or…?” She lifted an eyebrow playfully.

The Doctor lowered his head and gave her a long, thorough lick that made her shudder. “You tell me.”

Then he fell silent as he devoted himself to his task, one hand pressed down on her pelvic bone holding her to the bed, and the other teasing her with nimble fingers as he lapped around them. Rose held herself up to watch him and he found he loved the feel of her eyes on him while he pleasured her. He fastened his lips around her clit and sucked and she fell back on the pillows with a gasp. 

Well, clearly she liked that. He did it again and was rewarded with a breathy moan and a rhythmic rocking of her hips that said louder than words how close she was. Instinctively, he used the fingers he’d been teasing her with to stroke her inside and she grasped his hair, tugging fiercely as she came like a firestorm beneath him. He could feel her squeezing and releasing his fingers as she repeatedly called out his name. 

When she stilled, he leaned up and sucked hard on her hip, hoping it had left a mark. Something to prove she was his. Then he brought himself over her, finding her lips and thrusting his tongue between them frantically. 

“Please,” she whimpered, tearing at the fastening on his trousers. “I need you. Oh Doctor, want you so much.”

He rolled off her and rapidly stripped off his remaining clothes, tossing them unceremoniously over the side of the bed in his rush to get back to her. Then it was just him above her, using his palms to brace himself he slipped his legs inside hers. She reached down and took him in hand, sliding him once, twice, three times through her slickness before he was poised at her entrance, ready. 

“Rose,” he said, cupping her cheek in his hand. “ _My_ Rose.”

“I’m yours Doctor. Always.”

He leaned down and brought his lips to hers once more, as he finally pushed into her tight heat. Rose arched against him, bringing him even deeper and clutched her hands around his bum, pulling sharply so he was fully sheathed inside her. The Doctor flexed his hips and she tipped her pelvis up to meet his thrusts. 

Rose wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him closer, fingers skimming up and down his back. He wanted to feel her come again, with him this time, and worked his hand between them so he could stroke her clit. Her eyelids fluttered and she began to pant, fingernails marking the smooth skin of his shoulders as they both chased release. 

With only a few more flicks of his fingers, Rose threw back her head and cried out his name again. The feel of her body clenching and unclenching around him was enough to send him spiraling straight into the most incredible orgasm of his life. He sought her lips again as he spilled himself out inside her, and he groaned and shook in her arms with the power of it.

Afterwards he collapsed on top of her, face buried in her hair and hearts thundering against her chest. Rose ruffled the hair at the base of his skull, reached over to flip the duvet over them both, and turned to kiss the side of his head.

“That was amazin’,” she mumbled against one of his sideburns and he made an affirmative sound mostly muffled by the pillow before he rolled over and pulled her onto his chest. She stretched contentedly. 

After a few seconds of cuddling, he piped up with uncharacteristic uncertainty in his voice. “Rose,” he asked, “you know when I said it was love at first sight for me?”

“Yeah?”

He ducked his head a bit in a shy manner. “What about you? When did you…?”

Rose wiggled off his chest, resting her weight on one arm so she could face him and traced the lines of his cheek and jaw. “You really don’t know? Here I thought I was so obvious.” She smiled affectionately. “I suppose, if I had to pin it down, I had a crush on you until Woman Wept, and after that I was sort of…well…tip over arse really. But I would have been yours sooner if you’d given me any indication that you felt like this.”

“Ah,” he said, mind working furiously, “good to know.”

She yawned and snuggled closer into his side. “Don’t s’pose I could convince you to have a little kip with me? Say, an hour? We’ll still have a whole…” She lifted her wristwatch up in front of her eyes. “Nearly 22 hours left.”

The Doctor tightened his hold on her and settled his chin on the top of her head. “Go to sleep, Rose Tyler. I’ll make sure we don’t miss a single second of our hours together.”

Almost before he’d finished his sentence she was drifting off, safe in the security of his arms.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, this is NSFW.

Rose awoke less than an hour later to find the Doctor gone and a note on the pillow. She pulled it over and read his concise, sharp script.

_Rose,_

_If you wake before I’m back don’t worry. I had a small errand to run, and I’ll return before the hour is out. Make yourself at home, it seems the TARDIS has moved a small army of your things into the ensuite for you._

_Love (And I mean that. I love you.),_

_The Doctor_

Setting the sheet of paper on a nearby nightstand with an affectionate smile, she swung her legs out of bed and headed to the ensuite. True to what he’d written, the TARDIS had stocked the vanity with every single one of Rose’s favorite soaps and shampoos. She heard a self-satisfied hum as she picked a few up and put them down again.

“Alright, alright,” she laughed. “Since you’ve been so nice to do all this, I guess I can at least use some of it.” 

Gathering a few of the bottles and a flannel from the cupboard, she turned on the taps in the shower and stepped inside. The hot water rushed over her skin deliciously, and she sighed happily as she massaged the fragrant shampoo into her hair. She’d just finished with the conditioner and was using the flannel to wash herself, when she heard footsteps approaching the door to the bath. She assumed it was the Doctor, but it sounded like more than one person. She hoped it wasn’t another companion. Surely even he would realized you don’t make introductions while someone is showering.

“Using up all the hot water again, eh?” asked a familiar Northern accent, and the bottle of soap fell from Rose’s nerveless fingers to the tile floor with a clatter.

She felt frozen, standing in the shower while water pelted her back, with the man she loved but thought to never see again waiting somewhere outside. Struggling to maintain her composure, she peered out of the entry of the walled-in stall and saw her first Doctor lounging back against the doorframe, with her second Doctor grinning and bouncing on his heels alongside him. 

“How did you… Where did you come from?” Rose stammered in shock.

He thumbed at his counterpart standing in the doorway beside him. “Was minding my own business in the TARDIS when this hyper-active pipsqueak charged in and explained that you might want to see me. Of course, if he’s wrong, I could go. Not one to presume, me.” He gave her a teasing smile, and acted as if he was going to turn and leave.

“No! Please, don’t go.” Rose stepped out of the shower to stop him, and was rewarded by both Doctors’ jaws dropping as they took in her dripping form. 

The Doctor in leather swallowed heavily. “Now that’s a sight worth risking a paradox.” His future incarnation hummed in agreement.

“Well then,” her second Doctor said, throwing his sonic up in the air and deftly catching it, “I’ll just leave you two to get…reacquainted. Don’t take too long, you never know what sort of trouble I could get into if I get bored.”

“I know all too well what kind of trouble you get into, thank you very much,” Rose retorted, planting her hand on a soaking wet hip. “In fact, I’m well aware of the kind of trouble you _both_ get into.”

“Still. I’ll miss you, so…” The Doctor with freckles and pinstripes made a gesture to indicate that they get on with it.

“Don’t worry, Pretty Boy, we’ll come find you at some point,” replied the Doctor in leather firmly, and he shut the door in his past incarnation’s face before turning back to Rose. “You’re going to catch your death standing here all wet, Rose. Back into the shower with you.”

“I don’t think I want to let you out of my sight,” she said, glancing around for a towel.

“Well, I could always join you in there. By the look of those suds, you aren’t done yet. Wouldn’t want to inconvenience you.”

“So join me.” she said, willing her voice to stay steady.

The Doctor took a cautious step towards her. “That really what you want? I’m not pretty like he is. A battered old warrior, that’s me. Sure you know what you’re getting into?” 

“Didn’t I just tell you both that I know all too well what sort of trouble you get into?” Rose shivered as the air rapidly cooled her wet body. 

He frowned disapprovingly. “We’re spending too much yammering out here. You’re getting cold.”

“If you get in the shower, I’ll let you warm me up,” she teased. 

He finished closing the distance between them and brought his hands up to cradle her face, leaning down so he was on eye-level with her. “Rose Tyler, we step into that shower together and I’ll do far more than just warm you up. I’m going to ask you again, d’you want me? Are you sure?”

She tugged one of the hands off her face and guided it down between her legs where she was slippery wet from far more than just the shower. “What do _you_ think, Doctor?”

He groaned and covered her mouth with his. Rose ran her fingers though the short, rough strands of his hair and pulled him closer, opening her mouth to allow his tongue access. She moaned as it curled around hers, and then flicked against the back of her teeth before slipping back out again as he moved his lips across her jaw and down her neck. 

He shrugged off his jacket, kicking off his boots at the same time. Within seconds he’d stripped down completely, and, tossing her over his shoulder, strode purposefully into the shower . Once there he languorously slid her down the front of his body until her toes were back on the floor and bent his head to kiss her again. 

Spreading her palms out across the defined muscles of his chest, she brought down in a slow glide over his abdomen and then his powerful thighs. He stepped into her, the evidence of his arousal pressed between their bodies. 

“How long d’you suppose we’ve got before he comes back?” the Doctor asked, sliding a hand underneath her leg and pulling it up to hitch it around his hip.

“Not long,” Rose replied, between open-mouth kisses across his collarbone. “He’s not the most patient sort.” 

He nodded then, and she recognized the expression as the one he used when determining a plan of attack. 

“Right then,” he said, “best get on with it.” And he slipped both hands under her bum, lifting her up and turning her so her back was up against the cool tile of wall. “Rose, look at me. Look, and see what you do to me.”

She lifted her face to his just as he sheathed himself fully inside her with one, hard thrust. His eyes closed in feeling and then opened on hers again, the weight of his emotion pouring into her with all its intensity. “Doctor!” she cried out in a choked voice.

“Rose,” he replied, “how many times did I imagine you, so hot and tight around me? All those ridiculous pretty boys surrounding you all the time. Ricky the idiot. Adam. All those fools, and me the biggest, because I never did a thing about it.”

“You’re here now, Doctor. M’not letting you get away.” She squeezed him tightly from the inside and he groaned.

“I’m not good at gentle,” he warned, looking a bit anxious as he cupped her face in his hand.

“Don’t want gentle,” Rose replied. “Just want you.”

“Well you have me,” he said, and pulled out of her almost torturously slow before slamming home again. 

Rose whimpered, clutching his back and locking her ankles behind him. He began kissing her, matching thrusts of his tongue with thrust of his body as she arched against his chest in wanton abandon. Oh he was good, _so good_ , and she was reveling in the feel of him as he forcefully claimed her as his.

He increased the pace and the room was filled with the sound of their moans and the sharp slap of skin on skin as she writhed against him. 

“Not long, gonna…. Doctor!” she gasped out, as her orgasm started to overtake her.

He pulled her hips even tighter to his, increasing the depth of penetration and making her cry out. “Come for me Rose. Now. Let me feel you.”

And she did, spasming around him and sobbing his name. He gave a few more desperate thrusts and shouted his release with something like triumph, before collapsing against her panting.

She was still trying to catch her own breath, arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders and legs around his waist. With careful movements, she slid one leg free and then the other, using the wall to support her as she regained her footing.

The Doctor lifted his head, and she was pierced through by the look in his face. It was something akin to worship, and she was overwhelmed by it. 

“I love you too,” she said, delicately cradling his face in her hands. “My Doctor.”

“How can I ever hope to deserve you?” he said, withdrawing from her, and pulling her close against his chest as the water spilled down on them.

“You don’t need to,” she quietly replied, “I’m yours, always. No matter what face you might have. No matter what you think you’ve done that would chase me away. I’m yours. Forever.”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Luckiest man in the universe, me.”

Rose smiled against his chest. “Luckiest girl.”

“I expect we ought to get dressed before my future shows up, pounding on the door.” 

She grinned. “You’re probably right.” 

Not two seconds later there was a knocking at the door and they both laughed. “Roooose,” the Doctor in pinstripe’s voice came floating through the door, “how much longer are the two of you going to be?”

“We’re coming!” she yelled back.

“We certainly did,” the other Doctor said smug satisfaction, and she smacked his chest playfully. 

“Shut up! He’s going to hear you.”

The Doctor shrugged and said with a smirk, “Let him. He knows what we were up to in here.”

Rose rolled her eyes affectionately. “Doesn’t mean we need to rub it in, yeah? Hand me that towel.”

He tossed it to her and grabbed one for himself, roughly scrubbing off the water and retrieving his clothes. She watched him get dressed as she toweled off her hair. When he’d finished, he turned to face her, smile lighting up his whole face.

“Rose Tyler, that was fantastic.”

“Glad you thought so,” she replied with a tongue-touched grin.

“I’ll let you get yourself together. I’m sure you have things to do, and I’d only be in your way. Besides, pretty boy and the other one said they had some sort of idea they wanted to discuss with me.”

“The ‘other one’?” Rose said in shock. “What? You’ve met the Doctor who brought me here?”

He shook his head. “Yes, unfortunately. And I just want to say that I admire your loyalty to me.”

Rose laughed. “Off you go then. I won’t be a mo’.”

“You will, but I won’t complain. Much. Try to keep it under an hour, if you think that’s possible.”

“Oi! None of that! Now, out!” she said, giving him a little push. “Go see what it is those two have planned.”

He threw up his hands in supplication, “I’m going, I’m going. Wouldn’t want ya to slap me or anything. I know what you Tyler women are like.” And with that he gingerly opened the door and stepped out, shutting it with a click


	5. Chapter 5

Sometime later, Rose made her way down the corridor to the console room. As she neared the doorway, she heard voices rising and falling in deep discussion. Rose entered the room to find all three Doctors hunched over the view screen, regarding something on it with studious intent. 

Her pinstriped Doctor turned and beamed brightly at her, shoving up his spectacles, which had slipped to the end of his nose. “Rose! Come see this!”

The other two Doctors moved over to make room, and Rose stepped up to the console and regarded the swirling Gallifreyan script and intricate diagrams covering the screen. “You know I can’t read this, yeah? Care to explain?”

“Oh, well, we’re complete geniuses. That’s what it says,” the Doctor in the bow tie replied, swiping his fringe off his forehead in an unsuccessful attempt to look suave. 

“I’m the genius, you mean.” The pinstriped Doctor pushed him out of the way and tapped his knuckles against the screen. “Reconfiguring the Chronology Vector Control was my idea.”

“Oh yes, your one addition made all difference,” Bowtie scoffed.

“One!? My _one_ addition???” the other Doctor sputtered in indignation and looked as if he was gearing up for a lengthy tirade, or possibly fisticuffs, when Rose’s first Doctor interrupted, rolling his eyes.

“Absolutely useless, the pair of you. It’s inconceivable to me that this is what I become. An arrogant pretty boy with an unending gob, and a flailing giraffe in a bowtie who can’t be bothered to get a decent haircut.” He snorted in disgust and shook his head as if he were trying to rid it of his future selves. “Rose, what these two idiots are trying to explain is that we’ve found a way to keep you with us. That is, if you want to stay with us. Him, really," he corrected, cocking his head at his next incarnation. “Although right now, I can’t imagine why you'd want that.”

“Stay with you how?” she asked quickly. “And what about you? Why not you? Is something wrong?”

He wrapped his arms around her reassuringly and rested his forehead on hers. “My Rose. Always getting straight to the heart of the thing. Our time together has been fantastic. I’ll never forget it. Never. But this plan of ours, it won’t go that far back into the past. It can’t. I'll see you again though. One more time before I have to go back for good.”

“I don’t understand. What plan? You still haven’t said.” She scanned his face, eyes full of concern and hope.

Her second Doctor quietly approached. “Rose, there’s a way to bring you back into my timeline. To retrieve you from a certain time in my past, and return you to me today. Is this something you would want?”

“Retrieve me from where exactly?” she eyed the confusing symbols on the screen again as if she could find an answer in them. "I mean, it can't be too far back, yeah? Because I've still got to tell you about the stars going out. I do still have to do that, right?"

The third Doctor sat down on the jumpseat, stretched his legs out in front of him and patted the spot next to him. Rose perched gingerly on the seat and he wrapped a lanky arm around her and pulled her close. “Would you believe me if I said when I was him, I made a massive mistake?” He pointed at the Doctor in pinstripes.

“Him? Never,” Rose countered dryly. 

The other two Doctors laughed, while the one she was teasing thrust his hands in his pockets and glowered balefully at them. 

“Do you think I could have a moment alone with Rose?” he asked. “I’d rather not discuss this with the two of you hanging about, cracking jokes at my expense. And if I may, we’re all the same man, this was as much your bad decision as mine.”

In a move that surprised Rose, the other two immediately exited the room without putting up a single argument. She felt her stomach begin to roil with fear. Whatever it was, it was serious. Especially for them to just walk out and leave them alone like that. 

The Doctor fidgeted nervously with the sonic, twisting it through his fingers until she reached out and stilled them. 

“What is it? Tell me,” she said.

He took a fortifying breath and began, the words coming out hesitantly, as if he'd rather be telling her anything else but this. “Rose, you do find me again. The Daleks steal the earth, and you come to warn me that the stars are going out. I see you at the end of a street and run towards you, but just before you reach me, a Dalek shoots me, and I begin to regenerate.”

Her eyes widened. “Is it alright to be telling me this?”

“None is this is exactly what I’d term ‘alright’, but I’m about to alter timelines in a rather drastic way. In relation, the ramifications of you knowing a few facts about the future for a short time are fairly small.”

“I see. Small is good, I guess. So, shot by a Dalek, is that when you turn into Tweed and Bow Ties in there?” She pointed down the hall in the direction where his current regeneration had just disappeared.

“No, I don’t.” There were a few beats of silence before he continued. “Rose, remember that hand I lost on the Sycorax ship?” he asked,

She nodded. 

“Well, I find it again." The Doctor slid his fingers under his spectacles and rubbed the bridge of his nose a few times before adjusting them back on his face. 

"You find it? How? Where was it?"

"Jack had it, and that’s a whole other story for another time. The point is, I do find it, and I manage to heal myself without regenerating by sending the excess artron energy into the hand. My reasons were purely selfish. I wanted to stay the same man for you. When I saw you again Rose, I decide at that moment that I was done holding back. I wanted you with me, never mind the cost. Wanted to tell you I love you, that I need you. The world was in turmoil all around us, but you were running towards me and all I could think was how badly I needed to hold you again and finally have you in a way I’d denied to us both for so long. Things didn’t quite work out the way I hoped though. We got pulled onto the Dalek ship and…well…none of that is important. The thing is, we survived, but… Have you met Donna Noble yet? In your timeline, I mean.”

“I did. I… I killed her.” Rose looked away in shame. “You died and I had to fix it. It created a parallel timeline and the Donna in that timeline had to die in order to save you. I told her to tell you Bad Wolf so you’d know I was trying to get to you. Did she do that?”

“She did, and Rose, please don’t feel bad about that. The timelines were being maliciously manipulated and you fixed them. We’ll talk about it someday, but right now we need to talk about what happened on the Dalek Crucible. Is that alright?” He tipped her chin up with a finger.

“As long as you aren’t angry with me.”

“Never,” he said with absolute conviction.

“Then yeah, go ahead, I’m listening.”

“Right. Well, Donna touched the hand while it was still full of artron energy and it created another me.” He paused, giving her time to take his words in.

She blinked in shock. “Two of you? Like what? A twin?” 

“Weeell,” he drawled, “sort of. The other me, my duplicate, he has a Time Lord brain, all my memories, feelings and personality, not to mention my very manly looks.” He waggled his eyebrows at her. “But he also got quite a bit from Donna, including having only one heart. That means he has a human lifespan, just like you.”

Rose narrowed her eyes, beginning to see where his mistake might have come in. “Let me guess, you decided to sacrifice your happiness for ours in some noble, misguided, completely prat-like way?”

“Something like that. Although I did what I thought was erm…best…at the time.” He shifted his eyes away from hers and went back to toying with the sonic.

She folded her arms across her chest. “And that was…?” 

“I might have left the two of you in the other universe to build a life together,” he said in a rush and deftly stepped back outside of slapping range.

Rose leapt to her feet in fury. “You complete GIT!” She advanced on him. “Do you have any idea what I’ve been doing just to get back to you? And you LEAVE ME with some copy??? What would possess you to do that?”

The Doctor cleared his throat and took another step back. “You were snogging him, rather enthusiastically I might add, and I thought… Well, I just thought you could have the sort of life I could never give you. I wanted you to be happy. That’s all I ever wanted for you, Rose.”

Rose stopped dead in her tracks, shaking her head. “I snogged him? In front of you? I’d never do that.”

“Except that you did. We can get Tweed and Bow Ties back in here if you want to ask him, he’ll remember it too,” he said defensively. 

“No… If you say I did, then I believe you, but there had to be a good reason. I’d never just do that.”

“You had a good reason, trust me.” He winced at the memory.

“So, what does all this have to do with your getting to keep me now?” Rose asked and he relaxed enough to lean back on the console in front of her, still outside slapping range, just in case.

“The three of us are going to fly the future TARDIS into the breach between the universes and land it in the exact spot as this one just after it dematerializes. You and my half-human self get on board and we bring you both back here. Simple, really.”

“I seriously doubt it’s simple. But knowing you, you’ll manage. So I’m just s’posed to act like I have no idea any of this is gonna happen?” She drew her eyebrows together in concern. “M’not sure I’m that good an actress, Doctor.”

“Well, that is the other part. One of us, probably me, is going to have to modify your memories a bit.” As Rose began to open her mouth to protest he held up a hand to stop her. “Not for good, mind you, we’ll just time lock them with a specific memory trigger. Say…the moment you hear the TARDIS re-materialize off the beach. All your memories will return and you’ll know that we’re coming for you. How’s that?”

Rose thought it over for a minute. “Will I lose everything? Even what happened today?”

He sighed and scratched the hair at the nape of his neck thoughtfully. “It’s probably for the best if we lock it all. Just until then. It won’t be permanent, Rose. I promise you.”

“And the three of you, it won’t cause a paradox to be in the TARDIS together?”

“Oh you know me, I’ll be fine. All three of me.” He winked. “Besides, we’re all in the TARDIS now and the world isn’t imploding. Not a reaper in sight. Don’t worry, she’ll take care of us.”

Rose hesitated before she asked her next question, picking at a stray thread on the hem of her shirt. “If you left me behind… I mean…” She stopped, unable to finish.

“Are you asking why I’m going back for you now instead of letting you live out the life I planned for you to live with my double?”

She nodded. "Well, yeah. I guess I am."

He stepped forward and clasped both her hands inside his. “Rose Tyler, isn’t that fairly obvious? I _need_ you with me. Life without you is no life at all. And I was a fool to think leaving you behind was the right thing for either of us. I knew that the minute the walls closed between the universes again, but there was nothing I could do.”

“And your double? How does he fit into all of this?”

“However you want. That call is yours, Rose. You want just me, we’ll figure it out. You want him and decide to keep me as a best mate… It won’t be easy, I can’t lie, but I’ll make that sacrifice to have you with me. And if you want us both, well…” He shot her a lusty look. “…I’d rank that one as top banana, but again, your decision. I’ll abide by what you want.”

“You… Wait. BOTH? Both of you? I mean…” She cleared her throat and tossed her hair behind her shoulder to stare at him boldly. “Just exactly how much ‘top banana’ are we talking here?”

“Welllll,” he drawled licentiously, “I’ll keep it to food euphemisms and say the full enchilada. How does that sound? Two Time Lords, all yours, at the same time?”

Rose’s brain started to whirl with a myriad of _both_ situations but she shelved them and forced herself to concentrate on the issue at hand. “If I go with you, won’t it change things? Alter the future and all that? What about…?”

“Me?” said a voice from the doorway and Rose turned to see the Doctor in tweed standing there listening next to her first Doctor.

“Yeah.” Rose stood to face him. “What about you? Won’t it change things for you?”

“Possibly. We won’t know until we’ve done it. It might push this current regeneration back a few years, or even more than that. It’s a risk I’m willing to take.” He shrugged. “Having you with me is worth it, Tyler.”

She threw out her arms, palms splayed. “But why? What’s so special about a shop girl from the Powell Estate?”

The three Doctors shared a brief glance before Doctor in leather swiftly crossed the room to cup her face in his hands. “Rose Tyler, I’ll have you know that you are far more than a shop girl from the Powell Estates. When will you realize that there’s not a single being in this entire universe, or any other, that means as much to us as you do? When you met me in that basement in Henrik’s I was a broken man, but you looked past that…looked into me, and found something I didn’t even know was there anymore. You found hope, Rose. You found love. You found a man who was dead and brought him back to life. If I ever gave you any cause to doubt your worth, please forgive me. Never one for romance, me. Not until I found you, and then I had no idea how to go about it. Wish I’d figured it out before my time was up. But I’m here now, telling you that there’s no one else for me. Never will be.”

Rose was in tears by the time he finished his speech and flung herself into his arms, burrowing her face in his jumper. He made soothing noises and cradled her close to his chest with his coat tucked around her, all comforting leather and solid muscle under her cheek. 

“So Rose," he murmured into the top of her head, "what do you say? Going to let us steal you away again? Travel the stars with your Doctor? You know, this isn’t just a London hopper.”

She sniffled and twisted a bit so she could look up at him. “Does it also travel in time?”

He grinned hugely down at her. “In fact it does. Come with me?”

“Always. Forever,” she whispered.

“Are we agreed then?” the Doctor in tweed interrupted. “Rose Tyler, are we coming to get you?”

Still clasped in the circle of her first Doctor’s arms, Rose steadfastly met the eyes of each man in the room. “Yes. Come get me. I’ll be waiting for you.” 

The Doctor in leather stroked her jaw and bent his head to tenderly kiss her before pulling back to smile again. “Fantastic!”

“Molto bene! Let’s get this show on the road!” he second Doctor crowed, bouncing off the console to tug her forward into an embrace.

“I don’t see the rush,” the Doctor in leather said. “By my count, we’ve still got quite a bit of time left before she needs to make the jump back.”

“That’s true, we could go somewhere. Celebrate. What do you say Rose?” the Doctor in tweed asked.

“I like that idea, “ Rose smiled at them. “Let’s celebrate.”

“What about Barcelona? We never did get there,” said her second Doctor.

“Oh! That’s a fantastic idea. We could show her those dogs… You know, the ones with no noses! She’d love them.”

“Barcelona it is,” Rose agreed. “Let’s go.” Then she had the very novel experience of watching three Doctors running maniacally around the console, piloting the TARDIS as if their lives depended on it.

They had a spectacular time in Barcelona. Rose did in fact enjoy the noseless dogs, and they ended up visiting a street fair where the locals served the most unbelievable sweets. There was quite a bit of laughter and bickering, but none of it serious as her Doctors took turns showing her around. The hours passed all too quickly and it wasn’t long before they were headed back to where the Doctor in tweed’s TARDIS was waiting. 

“What time do you have on your watch, Rose?” he asked, lifting her wrist to look at her watch while sliding a pair of round, tortoise-shell spectacles on his face. “Ah, only twenty-five minutes. Alright, gentlemen, who is doing the memory lock?”

Rose expected her second Doctor to step forward, but the fingertips she found pressed to her temples belonged to her first Doctor. He addressed the other two, “I’m not about to let you two idiots mess about in her head. Besides,” he said, lowering his head to look her in the eye, “I saw her first.” And there was a light pressure, a sense of someone flipping through her thoughts like rapid fire page turning and then….nothing.


	6. Epilogue

Rose Tyler stood on a freezing cold beach in Norway wrapped in the arms of a man she knew better than nearly anyone, but had only just met. His mouth pressed firmly to hers, and his hands clutching her close as if she were the only thing he had in this whole world. Which, she supposed, was technically true.

This day had been strange and incredible. Full of wonder and terror, and words not said that needed to be said. Well, _he’d_ said them. Those words she’d been desperate to hear since the last time she’d stood on this same loathsome stretch of sand. This Doctor had said them and so she was kissing him, finally learning the mouth of the man she loved…but was it his mouth? Was it really? She was pretty sure the man she loved had just said he was going to abandon her again, and it was too much to manage to even try to sort it out in her head right now. Rose just wanted this moment and this kiss and the feeling of those arms she’d missed so much strong around her back.

And then she heard it. The TARDIS was dematerializing. He was really doing it. Leaving her here alone with his twin and worse…he wasn’t even going to say goodbye. Rose couldn’t believe it. She thought they’d have some time to argue, change his mind, make it work. But no. He was just going to walk away like a fucking coward and leave her there. Well, not if she could help it. 

She broke the kiss and ran, determined to catch the TARDIS before it fully disappeared, skidding to a halt a few feet away as she saw it could never be caught. Not now. She stood there hand in hand with the new Doctor as the blue box faded completely from view. As she struggled not to fall apart, Rose heard what sounded like the TARDIS engines returning. She turned to the man her side to see if he heard it too, and then thoughts and memories began crashing through her head like the waves on the nearby ocean.

There was that failed jump six months ago, but… No! It wasn’t a failure! She found him, but not the him she thought to find, and..and… OH! The memory shimmered, expanded, blazed out in front of her eyes like a landscape, all parts falling into place and shifting together until it was complete. 

He was coming!!! All of them! Coming back! This had been a mistake, and it was being corrected. Rose started to laugh. Relief and delight lit up her face like a roman candle. The half-human Doctor stared at her, clearly concerned that her mind may have snapped, but then he heard the TARDIS engines returning as well, as it flickered and materialized just a few feet in front them. The door banged open, and three heads popped out, all grinning wildy.

“Well?” Rose said, smiling up at the Doctor next to her as they faced this new adventure together. “What are you waiting for? RUN!”


End file.
